


The Ones You Love

by musicalsmarvelandmore



Series: 12 Days of Sprace Christmas One-Shots [6]
Category: Newsies - All Media Types
Genre: Christmas, Found Family, Friendship/Love, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kid Racetrack Higgins, Kid Spot Conlon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-11 10:35:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28350006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musicalsmarvelandmore/pseuds/musicalsmarvelandmore
Summary: Years before they were newsies, Sean and Antonio were friends, and despite it all, spend Christmas together.
Relationships: Future Spot Conlon/Racetrack Higgins, Spot Conlon & Racetrack Higgins
Series: 12 Days of Sprace Christmas One-Shots [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2057091
Comments: 1
Kudos: 17





	The Ones You Love

Little Sean Conlon sighed as he paced the street, waiting for his friend to come down and join him. None of this was fair.

The city was beautiful, and Sean couldn’t wait to explore it with his best friend at his side. Antonio was younger than he was, and Sean had to watch out for him. The streets were adorned with the beauty of Christmas, and even though Sean had seen some of it on his own, he tried his best to keep his eyes focused ahead of him, in order to not be unfair.

Antonio didn’t get to leave his apartment very often. He was too little and had important things to do in his own apartment, but Sean would hold his hand and walk with him and tell him that everything was going to be fine.

He sighed again, as though the weight of the world was upon him, and headed over to the fire escape to climb up to Antonio’s window. It had started snowing, fat flakes that filled the air with magic, and he just couldn’t wait for Antonio to come out and see this.

Sean rapped twice on the window, careful to not be too loud to disturb anyone else in the apartment. That was the last kind of attention that they wanted to get here.

The curtains were drawn open, and a small tousled head appeared, looking down as he struggled to open the window.

“Tone! Are you ready to-“ Sean said, before breaking off at the sight of the little boy’s face.

His face was red and swollen, like he had been crying. “I can’t go.”

“‘Course you can, buddy.”

The little boy shook his head. “No. My dad came back, and he’s really angry.”

Sean flinched at that. He knew all too well the implications of that. Neither of them had fathers who should be fathers, but Spot was better at avoiding and getting out of the apartment before his father started hitting. Antonio was too scared of what would happen to his mother if he left. Spot didn’t know which one of them had it worse in that regard.

“It’s okay, I promise. It’s not that big a deal.”

The other boy sniffled. “But I wanted to go with you.”

“Look, Christmas is ‘bout spending time with those we love, right? It’s not about decorations. Those will still be there next year. But what if I stay here with you? We can have our own Christmas, just the two of us.”

“Okay.”

Tonio’s voice was soft and unsure, like he wasn’t sure that Sean was serious, but he tried to ignore that. Asshole fathers did that to a person.

Honestly, they both had shitty mothers in their own way too. Sean’s may have left him, but Tone’s let him get hit protecting her and in some ways, that was even worse. But Sean would protect that little boy until the end of the line, no matter what anyone else might do. Sean was here for that boy. 

Maybe it wasn’t the best idea. If it weren’t for little Tone, then Sean might have left years ago. Living with his own father sucked, but it was a necessary evil, for now.

Sean climbed in through the window and embraced the little boy in a hug, pulling him to sit on his bed. “Hey, it’s okay, alright? This won’t be our only chance to look at the lights, a’right? It’s you and me, together forever.”

Tonio nodded as his head was pressed against Sean’s chest. The little boy might not even be two years younger than Sean, but that wasn’t what mattered.

This wasn’t going to last in this situation. Sean didn’t think he could sit around much longer in a place where both of them got beat on the regular, but whatever might happen next, they were going to do it together.

Christmas was about being with your loved ones, and Sean loved Antonio Higgins, forever and always.

**Author's Note:**

> I really didn't write 12 fics in 12 days but I am going to finish these because I have enough ideas. Hopefully they'll be done before the holidays are too far behind us.


End file.
